


The Chocobo Knight

by orphan_account



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Violence, Cloud is not comfortable with this, Cloud isn't thrilled with his Goddess' decision to send him here..., Crossover, Delivery Boy in Thedas, Explicit language (occasionally), Fade-walking, Fen'Harel - Freeform, Final Fantasy OST song titles, Friendship, Gen, Mentions of Cults, Mentions of Slavery, Other, Rogue!Lavellan - Freeform, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Solas is bad at distancing himself, The Fade, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Why can't we be friends?, just another Tuesday in Thedas, made up codex entries, mentions of blood magic, mentions of blood sacrifice, worship of reluctant heroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-27
Updated: 2016-02-19
Packaged: 2018-05-16 17:41:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5834785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cloud had just wanted to see this new world. He wasn't some myth, some perpetrator of justice or vengence. Also, the Goddess hadn't said anything about championing a new cause.... Why can't these people leave him alone?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Man in Black

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Champions and Heroes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1883004) by [ScreamingViking](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScreamingViking/pseuds/ScreamingViking). 



** The Chocobo Knight **

_Disclaimer : Don’t own Dragon Age or Final Fantasy. Just playing in their prospective sandboxes and mixing them in the process._

It’s been a very long time since I’ve had the inclination to write fanfic. Inspired by the fantastic ScreamingViking and their super awesome series Fire and Lightning, a FFVII/Dragon Age 2 crossover. Hawke ends up on Gaia and shenanigans ensue. Incredibly written, go read it!

Anyway, on with the _show_!

*** *** ***

Prologue: In Search of the Man in Black

The Dalish call him The Wanderer, Uthsa’aravas. He had once kept to the Drylands of Antiva, a silent guide to the lost who points the way to the closest bit of civilization. Though he had been spotted as far south as the northern shores of the Waking Sea. None know when he first came to Thedas or why. No one even knows of the place he might have once called home. Some say his eyes glow like a full Satina and his hair gleams like gold. Others tell tales of his immeasurable strength and agility. More tales speak of his blade, an unusual weapon just by its size alone.

Uthsa’aravas was first encountered during 7:84 Storm, Firstfall by Clan Rial’varan along the edge of the Tellari Swamps. The clan had been desperately fighting off the undead when he had appeared, sword gleaming bright in the moonlight as he sliced through the corpses. When the fighting was over, the elves pointed their weapons at him but did not attack. But he had not said a word and disappeared into the night beyond even the keen vision of the elves. From there more stories emerged of a man with golden hair and dressed in black defending those beset by any who wished them ill or guiding the lost back to their path.

One tale stands out among so many. It was during 8:30 Blessed, Cloudreach. A small, walled village of the northern Drylands had been besieged by a coalition of savage Tal-Vashoth, Qunari who had abandoned the Qun after the Third New Exalted March. After seven days and six nights of being under attack, The Wanderer appeared and cut down the grey, horned giants one by one in the village’s defense. He did not speak to the Tal-Vashoth nor to the villagers. When he was done, he cast the dead upon a mass pyre and disappeared without accepting a word of thanks.

The last recorded sighting of Uthsa’aravas was 9:03 Dragon, Harvestmere near the city of Kirkwall. He was seen along the coast headed toward the Planasene Forest.

-From Thedas: Myths and Legends by Brother Genitivi, Chantry scholar

*** *** ***

Chapter One: Chasing the Black-Caped Man

_9:41 Dragon, August, 11th Day, Evening_

Rolling thunder echoed across the Exalted Plains. Within moments of the first boom, rain pelted down hard and fast from the black clouds that dominated the sky. The Orlesian armies hurriedly sought shelter from the night, the storm and the undead. In the region of the Plains called Halin’suhlan near the waterfall guarded by an enormous wolf statue stood a single figure in a black cloak and clothing, seeking his own shelter beneath a stone shelf. Fingers clad in black gloves made from a leather not known to Thedas traced swirling patterns in the air. Beneath the hood, golden hair drooped from their usual spiky state. Sapphire colored eyes that subtly glowed watched the Fade rift that was slowly growing further down the creek. For the past few months, the man in black slew hundreds of demons in his travels. With every demon dead, a rift shrank but never closed. He lacked the power to do so.

Frustrating.

Boom! A lightning bolt struck the ground near the ramparts. He saw the jagged bolt above the trees and hills. But, like always on the Exalted Plains, the massive storm moved onward toward the Emerald Graves in just a few hours after the deluge. The creek had swelled almost out of its banks. Hopefully the Dalish clan led by Keeper Hawen were clear of the water.

“Where to next?” He muttered to the spirit that saw fit to attach itself to him for the past one hundred years of the one hundred forty-seven he had been in Thedas. Somehow because of its attachment to him, the Fade rifts didn’t seem to affect it at all. He was glad that his companion was safe. Perhaps it was thanks to the Mako and the magic of Holy flowing through his veins.

The little spirit called Curiosity flickered. “Something’s wrong,” it said. “Oh no, oh no!” It circled his shoulders frantically. “Wisdom is hurting, Cloud! We have to get to her! She’s called out to Pride but I don’t think he’ll make it!” Little tendrils of light tugged at his cloak and hood. “Hurry! They’re trying to bind her!”

“Which way, Curiosity?” Cloud bit out as he took off. His boot clad feet barely disturbed the grass.

“Northwest! I’ll show you. Follow!” The spirit condensed itself into a little ball of light and flew off just beyond his reach but not his sight. Over the creek and straight into the Enavuris area of the Plains, Cloud followed Curiosity. They crested a great pillar of rock and looked down.

Cloud snarled when he saw the stones that anchored the sun-bright binding circle. Within the circle, Wisdom writhed, resisting the chanting mages and blood magic heavy in the air. The tang of lyrium was mixed with the scent of blood wafting up from the binding circle. Other mages, obviously dead, were being drained by the blood magic to power the circle. “Stay here,” he told Curiosity. It bobbled in place as a gesture of understanding. Cloud removed his cloak and massive weapon from the harness across his broad back. He kicked off and flew into the air, First Tsurugi aimed straight for one of the binding stones. From above, Cloud split the stone with an overhead strike. With another swing, he chopped one of the mages in half at the waist. Screams filled the air from the remaining mages as Cloud cut a bloody swathe through their group. The weasel-faced leader scrambled to get away.

“Wait! Wait!” The mage cried. He fell onto his back and tried to crabwalk backwards. “The bandits…!”

Cloud ignored him, the scent of blood clogging his sensitive nose. Blood mages like this man who enslaved spirits for their own gain were not pitied by the warrior. Usually he felt for the plight of the mages of Southern Thedas, locked away and oppressed. But there were some lines that should not be crossed. He had seen the sacrificed people at their feet dressed in ragged mage robes. They had cut down their own fellows. There would be no mercy from Cloud. Without a word to the begging mage at his feet, he plunged his sword tip through his belly. Cloud withdrew his blade and walked away. The mage choked and weakly tried to press his hands against the fatal wound. He died, gasping. Cloud then proceeded to destroy the rest of the binding stones.

“Wisdom!” Curiosity cried when Cloud gave it the okay to come down. The spirit took the shape of a bird, ghostly though it was. It fluttered anxiously around the other spirit. “Are you okay, now? Are you hurt? Can I help?”

“Peace, my friend,” Wisdom soothed in a shaky voice. “Ah, Cloud, my thanks. I called to Pride in the Dreaming but you are a welcome sight as well.”

Cloud inclined his head at her. “Glad I could help. After all, you helped me long ago.” He shuffled his feet. “We should leave this area.”

“Yes. Then I must return to the Dreaming to heal.” Wisdom nodded her head. “The river perhaps? Further down the bank? Your blade is…covered.”

“Yeah.” Cloud led the way. Frowning, he knelt on the pebbled shore east of the dead mages and now defunct binding circle. First Tsurugi was stabbed down into the riverbank. “Wisdom, do you need help to go back into the Dreaming?” He asked solemnly. The spirit knelt in front of him, a pained smile on her face.

“I do not wish to trouble you. Though perhaps I should wait until Pride arrives.”

“But you’re so hurt!” Curiosity cried. “What if you change and twist by staying too long?”

“Curiosity is right,” Cloud pointed out. “The binding, interrupted so early or not, has darkened you a bit.” He gestured toward her middle, a dark spot crackling with lightning staining her. “If I help you back into the Dreaming, I can purify that area with Holy as I send you. Besides, he’s got to sleep sometime on his journey here. You can tell him that you are safe now.”

“Your Common is much improved,” Wisdom said, very much pleased that her teaching had stuck with him. “And I suppose you are right as is Curiosity. Very well. Please help me once more?”

“Of course.” The white glow of Holy flickered from Cloud’s fingertips. Gently, he touched the only magic he could conjure to Wisdom’s forehead. “Go in peace,” he murmured. “Heal and return to what you once were, whole and clean.” Wisdom smiled, gleamed white, and faded away across the Veil. He could sense when she had entered back into the Fade afterwards. It was a relief. He blinked when his spirit companion plopped its bird-self into his spiky, damp hair. “Oi, get off.” Cloud made no attempt to dislodge it.

“Yay! We helped!” Curiosity chirped happily. It wriggled deeper into the blond spikes. “Let’s go exploring~!”

“Bath first, then sleep. I’m coated in blood mage gore,” Cloud said dryly.

“And then you’ll finally tell me all about your scars before bedtime?”

“No.”

“Aww, c’mon, Cloud! I gotta know! One hundred years and you still haven’t told me! Please~! If you do, I’ll stop asking stuff.”

“Not interested. Besides, you’d explode after a day of no questions.”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Ya-huh.”

“Cloud! Please, please, please!”

“No.”

*** *** ***

Solas blinked awake. He was relieved. Wisdom, intact and healing, had contacted him in his dreams at the Inquisition camp on the Path of Flames. She had not answered him for once when he asked how she was freed. Instead she had simply smiled. She then only said that a friend had come to her aid after her cry echoed through the Dreaming. He found it most curious.

The sunrise was a cheerful mix of pinks and oranges when he exited his tent. He looked toward the communal pot that likely held the morning’s porridge. The graceful form of the Inquisitor was sitting on a log by the fire already with a bowl in hand. She looked up and made eye contact with him. The so-called Herald of Andraste inclined her head toward the empty spot next to her.

“Good morning, Solas. Have some breakfast. We’ll ride to where you said your friend is when you are done.” She smiled shyly at him as he took up a bowl and spooned in some porridge. He made a face at the fact that there was no honey to sweeten the mixture.

“Inquisitor, good morning.” He sighed. “I need to inform you that the situation has changed,” Solas said, sitting next to her. Though the two elves have had their differences, at least in regards to the Dalish, Solas considered the Inquisitor his somewhat friend. He knew it was dangerous to feel thusly toward her. Even friendship could alter his perception of this Tranquil world with its shadow beings who thought they were people. Solas could not afford to agree with the now dead Felassan that these were real people. The restoration of The People came before his own feelings and the mortal lives that populated Thedas.

“What happened? Are we too late?” The Inquisitor anxiously wondered, her eyes wide with horror. Her expression made the mage want to smooth her brow with his fingertips.

Solas clasped his half-empty breakfast bowl tightly instead. “Another has freed my friend and she has returned to the Fade. I spoke with her earlier.” He forced a smile on his face.

“In your dreams, right?”

“Correct. Though I am pleased with this, I cannot help but wonder who helped her.”

The Inquisitor pursed her lips. “The spirit of Wisdom did not tell you?” She asked. He shook his head. Her eyebrows furrowed in thought. “Did you wish to investigate where the attempted binding took place instead?”

“No, she insisted that it was a friend who aided her. If it does not inconvenience you, I do wish to check over the area,” Solas smoothly replied.

“We should definitely see,” Lavellan decided after a moment of thought. “Perhaps, since the circumstances have changed, we can bring more people than just us? I believe Dorian is getting anxious after the hard ride here.” Solas wrinkled his nose. “Don’t make that face, hahren. Please be more civil with Dorian. He is trying.”

“Did someone say my name?” Dorian sauntered over from his tent. The morning sun was well past the horizon now. “And I am not trying. I am a delight.” He grinned and served himself breakfast. “What, no honey? Ugh, you Southerners and your disinclination toward any kind of flavor.” He quickly ate the porridge with a moue of distaste on his lips. “So, am I accompanying you or are you two still intent on leaving me here in the camp while you go to save Solas’ friend?” Dorian sat on the other side of the Inquisitor. He poked at the bit of porridge at the bottom of his bowl with his spoon. “I assure you that I have no wish to bind your spirit of Wisdom myself. If I want to know something, I can always ask or do my own research. Distasteful to bind a friend’s friend, yes? Besides, I do like research. If only our library was up to snuff.” Dorian sniffed.

Solas shook his head at the flamboyant Tevinter. “She is free,” he said grudgingly, ignoring Dorian’s roundabout way of calling the elf his friend. “However, she did not divulge the name of who had freed her.” He almost grunted when the Inquisitor elbowed him. Apparently she did not like his tone. No matter.

“Come help investigate the matter. After all, I am no mage and a second opinion never hurt anyone,” the rogue said, giving Solas the side-eye with raised eyebrows. Obviously the second part of her last sentence was directed at him. Solas shrugged it off. She was being especially pushy this morning. “Hopefully the others make it to camp by the time we come back from this venture.”

“We did leave in a hurry,” Dorian mused. He handed off his bowl and spoon without eating the last of his breakfast to one of the scouts to be washed. “Why, we practically left them in the dust. That is the saying, yes?”

“Yes, that’s the saying,” Lavellan said in amusement. She too relinquished her empty bowl to be rinsed out. “Solas, finish your breakfast. Then, let’s saddle up.”

*** *** ***

“Wake up, wake up, wake up!” Curiosity, as a little dot of light, bounced up and down on Cloud’s forehead. “Cloud, Cloudy, Cloud! Up time! Sun’s out, guns out! Haha, what a funny saying! What’s a gun, anyway? Helloooo?”

“Curi, no. Go back to sleep,” Cloud grunted. He tried to swat Curiosity off of his face. “And never say that again. It’s weird. How many times have I told you not to dig through my memories for slang from Gaia?” He huffed when the sparkly spirit made itself bigger and completely covered his face. “Curiosity, really?”

It laughed and floated up. “You’re so silly, Cloud. Let’s go exploring! You promised me last night!” Curiosity swirled around in the air, lightly tugging at the warrior’s hair. “It’s a new day and new places to see! Woo!” The spirit zipped off to the middle of the the river and dipped in and out of the water in a haphazard dance.

Cloud sat up and shook his head. He lurched out of his bedroll and stretched. Running his hand down his face, the warrior surveyed his small campsite. He had made it beneath the overhang of a rock formation that jutted out over the bit of shore he had slept on and the river. To the north of where he was lay the ancient elvhen baths. He knew that a rift dominated the baths and made sure to stay clear. Though south of his position was Var Bellanaris, the elvhen burial grounds. Burial grounds filled with aggressive wisps and demons, ugh. “Should have camped somewhere else,” Cloud muttered. But he had been tired and it had been already so late after saving Wisdom.

He kicked dirt over the cooling coals of his campfire. Cloud then knelt back onto his bedroll. His bare, calloused fingers pulled on his knit, sleeveless shirt and zipped it closed to just below his clavicle. The high collar of his SOLDIER style top brushed his squared jaw line. Next Cloud strapped his leather pauldron onto his left shoulder, the pauldron sporting a wolf’s head with a ring clasped in its teeth. He stood, scooping up his weapon harness after checking that his boots were still tied and strapped. He pulled on his belt as well. Then, using the straps of his pauldron, the warrior attached First Tsurugi’s harness. He grabbed First Tsurugi from where it was leaning against the rock side of his shelter and swung it into its harness. He tugged on his leather gloves. Cloud was glad he got rid of the duster half from his pants whilst still on Gaia, one less thing to put back on. The lack made his outfit look more like a SOLDIER’s uniform but he was past worrying about anyone mistaking him as a member of the long dead para-military organization. Besides, here on Thedas, there was no Shinra and no SOLDIERs. He shook his head and pulled on his cloak that covered him from neck to toe, fastening it at the hollow of his throat. There, all done...

“Don’t forget your bedroll and pack!” Curiosity said in a sing-song tone. It bounced in place, obviously done playing in the water. It watched as its friend rolled up the simple blanket and small pillow and stuffed the items into a small, single shoulder-strap bag. “Ready?”

“Yeah. Where to next?” Cloud asked, a small smile on his face.

“The graveyard?”

“Other than the graveyard.”

“Boo, no fun. Okay! Hmmm…” The little spirit bobbed up and down as it thought to itself. “Oooh! What about those ruins by the waterfall?”

“Sure, let’s mosey.” Cloud pulled up his hood to cover his bright hair.

“Teehee, that’s still a funny saying! Let’s mosey!”

*** *** ***

A grimace graced Lavellan’s face when the trio finally stumbled onto the site. They had left their mounts a ways back when they had come upon a mage’s corpse riddled with arrows. It was older than the bodies strewn about the clearing surrounded by stone formations and the river. “Well, whoever saved your friend did it violently,” she said. She was actually glad for the boots Leliana always insisted that she wear. Lavellan poked at half of a mage with the covered toes of her right foot. “Very violently.”

“Well, it looks like the rescuer had interrupted a blood-magic ritual. Obviously these sods needed to power the binding. Look here, some of the mages were already dead before the others were slaughtered. If you look at the pattern within the circle… Well, my goodness, how Tevinter of them. They used their own friends to power this circle.” Dorian shook his head. He looked disgusted. “They would have fit right in with the corrupted ranks of the Magisterium,” he said angrily. Carefully, he kept walking through the site, stepping over the scattered body parts outside of the circle.

Solas poked at a shattered binding stone with his staff. “They destroyed these as well,” he noted aloud. “They knew what to aim for to stop this ritual.” He looked down and saw a tome opened to a specific, blood splattered page. “Ah, Dorian, come here.”

“Oh? Find something interesting?” Dorian ambled toward the older mage. They both ignored Lavellan going through the dead’s pockets for valuables. He eyed the book that Solas pointed out. They crouched by the tome to exam it. “This is an older text. Tevinter in origin judging by this page.” Dorian pointed at the left page covered in diagrams written in Tevene. He then pointed at the opposite page. “And there’s the translation. How odd. One would think that the Southern Chantry would have burned this book.”

“Black market purchase, perhaps,” Solas mused.

Dorian shrugged. “Well, from what I can read through the blood, the translation is poorly done indeed. They could have killed themselves and destroyed your friend.” He clicked his tongue. “Shall we take this back to Skyhold for further examination?” Solas simply inclined his head in acquiescence. “Good, good. I’ll just put this in my saddlebag once we get back to our mounts, yes?” Dorian gingerly picked up the book and closed it since the blood was already dry. The two mages stood and shuffled a few steps away from one another. “Darling, finished poking around?” He called out to their leader.

Lavellan walked over to the two. “All done?” She looked at them, raising her eyebrows.

“Well, we know how the mages attempted to bind Wisdom.” Dorian waved the book at her. “How messy of them to leave this book out. What a shame, really.” He grinned at the admonishing look she sent him.

“However, I have not seen any indicators on who had rescued Wisdom. I cannot even distinguish footprints in this mire of mud and blood,” Solas informed her before they could start to banter. “The wounds caused by whatever weapon they used are consistent with a large blade, large enough to slice a person in half.” He indicated one of the dead mages that had been clearly chopped in two. “If I went into the Dreaming, I could possibly view the memories of what took place here.”

“A nap, here?” Lavellan said incredulously.

“Close by, yes.” The hedge mage shrugged. “I am not squeamish, da’len.” He gestured toward one of the taller rock formations. “There at the top, perhaps, once we burn the bodies. They have lain here long enough.”

“Yes, they are quite ripe now,” Dorian declared, wrinkling his nose. “Shall we then? Oh come now, Lavellan, don’t make that face. We should be used to the dead by now. And besides, you don’t need to worry about Solas. We’ll stand guard to make sure the vultures do not nibble on him while he goes memory-walking.”

“Much appreciated,” Solas said dryly.

*** *** ***

“Aww, the way is blocked!” Curiosity hovered in front of the magic barrier that kept them from entering the last part of the ruins. “Can Holy counter it? Because I wanna see beyond it!”

“Probably not,” Cloud said. He dragged the dead Freeman of the Dales to the wall by the entrance of the ruins. What was with these Orlesian deserters? He had meant them no harm, tried to talk them down even but they attempted to kill him anyway. Then again, Cloud was never good with words or being persuasive. Still, he had enough blood stains in his ledger as it was. “Anything else interesting?”

“This was a shrine to Sylaise,” Curiosity said, abandoning its poking at the barrier. “Goddess of the Hearth, the Hearthkeeper. The Dalish like her vallaslins very much, almost as much as Mythal and Andruil. This shrine is still considered lost by the Dalish. But we found it! Even though those bad people found it first, we came instead. They were bad anyway. Yay for exploring! Oh, I know! We should definitely tell Keeper Hawen where this is, he’d like it. I bet he can bring down the barrier! He has magic!”

*** *** ***

The re-entry into the waking world was always a bit jarring at first. Solas was already quite shaken from the memories he had viewed. “Well,” he coughed. Immediately Lavellan’s eagle sharp eyes zeroed in on him from her seat on a boulder. Dorian looked up from his game of cat’s cradle and tucked the loop of string into one of his many pockets. They looked at him expectantly. “He was quite swift in his execution of the mages. He took them by surprise from above via the top of this very rock formation.”

“Wow, what are the odds?” Lavellan mused.

“Furthermore, apparently a spirit of Curiosity was with him. It appears that it had led him here when Wisdom’s cries for help to me echoed out through the Fade. The spirit had watched from here as this man rescued Wisdom, destroyed the binding stones, and killed the mages. All at once. The mages had hoped to summon a spirit to fight against the bandits plaguing them.”

“Which explains the dead mage further away from here completely covered in arrows. They certainly chose the wrong spirit to summon and bind considering who came to Wisdom’s rescue. What did this man look like?” Dorian asked.

“He had been covered by a black cloak.” Solas closed his eyes in concentration to help him recall the rescuer’s appearance. “He had flung it off before jumping down to stop the binding. Golden hair in an unusual style of cut. Eyes so blue and bright that they almost glowed in the darkness of the night. An enormous blade of a distinct design. Black clothes that were as unusual as his hair with silver accents. In particular…”

“A pauldron with a silver wolf’s head on his left shoulder,” Lavellan interrupted, her face pale. The two mages looked at her in surprise. “Clenched in the wolf’s teeth was a silver ring. His ear was pierced, the earring matching his pauldron. Black gloves encasing strong hands. Speed beyond measure. More agile than a halla. It’s him.” She pressed her fingers over her mouth. “Uthsa’aravas,” she said in a reverent and fearful voice.

“Umm, translation?” Dorian waved his hand in front of her glazed eyes.

“Directly translated, it means one who journeys forever. As a title it means The Wanderer,” Solas supplied, a worried look on his face. “Inquisitor?”

“I remember him,” Lavellan whispered. “From long ago, when I was a child. He came from the shadows of the Planasene Forest, sword bright and gleaming. I was an apprentice hunter and I had wandered away from Mamae’s hunting party. Shems had cornered me, slavers. They were beating me. I couldn’t fight them off.”

“Da’len…”

“Uthsa’aravas was a story told by the elders at the Arlathvhens for nearly one hundred and fifty years. He was said to help those in need. He once rescued Clan Rial’varan from the undead. So many stories where he aided the elves despite having the ears of a shem. But he was no shem. He couldn’t be. I believed he was an emissary sent by the Creators to aid the People, to be our champion. Once I even prayed to him for the safe return of my babae from a trading run with a shem village near Wycome, asked him to point the way for Babae if he were lost. I am terrible at being Dalish.”

Dorian looked troubled as did Solas “And the slavers?” The Tevinter mage asked gently. “What did he do to them?”

“I was so ashamed. I did not call out to the Creators for aid but to him. I remember screaming…” The she-elf trembled. “And somehow, he came; he answered my call. And I remember watching as he slew the entire party of slavers. He was so fast and his sword was so strange. It could split into more swords. And when it was done, he turned to me and I saw his eyes. Bluer than the sea and sky. They were so bright, they almost glowed. He healed me somehow. The pain went away. Then he disappeared back into the forest. My mamae found me surrounded by the dead. She didn’t believe that Uthsa’aravas had saved me, that he existed at all. Keeper Deshanna was the only one who ever did believe me.” Lavellan let out a shaky laugh. “But he is real, I know what I saw. And now you’ve seen memories of him in the Fade, Solas. He’s here, somewhere in the Dirth. I know he’s here. Surely he cannot have gotten far!”

“Peace, da’len,” Solas soothed. “We will find him. Perhaps the Dalish clan that Scout Harding had mentioned earlier saw him. If not, the last bit of memory showed that he was headed South from here.”

“I have to…” Lavellan exhaled a trembling breath. “I have to thank him for saving me. And now he’s even saved Wisdom.” She clasped her hands together. “Uthsa’aravas, please, let us find you. We owe you so much.”

Solas exchanged an incredulous look with Dorian.

*** *** ***

Cloud nearly walked through Curiosity. He sputtered and backpedaled away from the weirdly still spirit. “You okay?” He asked.

“Someone’s looking for you,” Curiosity said with wonder in its voice. “They want to meet you so much. I can feel it from here. They must be on the Plains for me to hear them like that. It’s like a whispered prayer. Oh, who is it, I wonder? Let’s go find them, Cloud!”

“What?! No way. Not interested.” Cloud let out a choked shout when the spirit pulled on his hood so hard that it was no longer covering his blond, spiky hair.

“C’mon, I need to know who is calling out to you. Can’t you feel it?”

“Yes, and I am going the opposite way. Remember that cult of Chasind that started worshipping me thirty years ago? Remember how badly that ended when I asked them to stop?”

“Don’t be such a party-pooper! That only happened the once. I’m sure it won’t happen again. Come on, please! Let’s go see who it is!”

“No. And what did I tell you about skimming my memories for slang?!”

“Party-pooper, party-pooper!” Curiosity tugged hard at his hair and nose. “Don’t you want to know? And no lying because I know when you lie. I can feel your curiosity!” It sang gleefully.

“This is such a bad idea,” he complained even as he complied with the spirit to turn around and head north once more. “This is so terrible. This is the worst.”

“Silly, Cloud! This is gonna be great!” The spirit of Curiosity pointed the way onward from its place on top of Cloud’s head. “Let’s mosey!”

Cloud groaned. He should have never taught that phrase to the bouncy spirit.

*** *** ***

**“Even if the morrow is barren of promises  
Nothing shall forestall my return…”**

- _Loveless, Verse V, author unknown_

*** *** ***

** END OF CHAPTER **


	2. Fiddle De Chocobo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Cloud decides, after much hemming and hawwing, to finally mosey somewhere other than the Exalted Plains...

** The Chocobo Knight **

*** *** ***

_Tales of the Planet_

Once upon a time, a Champion stepped forth onto a path wrought with pain and sorrow. But through the pain, the knives that carved into his flesh, and the attacks that tore at his mind, he persevered. He endured. It was hard. For a long time he blamed himself. How could he ever be forgiven? Yet he realized along the way that he was forgiven already. His failures weren’t truly events that he could have prevented though not for lack of trying. He only had to forgive himself for the sins that were never his in the first place. A burden gone.

Years passed. Then decades. He stood tall even when he wanted to break. But our Champion continued to serve the people, to serve the world as a whole. He protected us from the monsters that stalked the wilds and the cities. The world healed beneath his guardianship. The people learned and grew. Until finally, he was no longer needed. He had traveled to all of the continents for what seemed like thousands of times. He had seen all of the corners of this world. There was nothing left for him. His friends were gone. After so long, he was truly alone.

However, before the Champion fell into despair, a great voice called out to him with all the beauty of a thousand golden bells. Minerva, Goddess of the Planet, beseeched him to not give in, to accept one last responsibility in Her name. It would be an eternal one to match his eternal life. The magic of Holy was becoming too much for the Planet, constantly regenerating and depleting the Lifestream that powered it and Gaia. But the only way to unburden the world was to transfer Holy elsewhere and to send the vessel for Holy away. So our Goddess offered a solution for from the Champion’s very bones and through his blood flowed Mako and Cetra cells cleansed of the Calamity’s taint. The Champion agreed to take Holy into himself and to be sent away from the Planet. It was for the good of the people, for the good of the very Planet itself. And so he was sent forth by our Goddess.

On the tail of a shooting star, our Champion flew away.

- _From Fables of Gaia: The Goddess’ Champion by Disciple Grimm, Order of the Goddess_

*** *** ***

**Chapter Two : Fiddle de Chocobo**

Chocobos. Cloud really missed the giant flightless avians. He missed riding them. He really, really wanted to have one for their ability to cross great tracts of land so easily. Not that his own speed whilst running was anything to laugh at though compared to his favorite bird, he was a slowpoke. Of course, Cloud wasn’t exactly rushing, to Curiosity’s dismay. He had no desire to meet this person who wanted to meet him. If one more person called him Uthsa’aravas, he would scream. Being called the Wanderer in Common was little better. In fact, Cloud preferred being called ‘you terrible delivery boy, why were you late?!’ to being called by either title. And fuck that now dead person, he had been late only a few times, thanks. Monsters had no respect for timelines or due dates.

“Clo~ud! Go faster!” Curiosity whined. “We’ll never catch up with the person who wants to meet you. Hurry up!”

The warrior let out a world-weary sigh. He knew that Curiosity had been born thanks to the strong, innate curiosity present in all children, thus its child-like nature. However, Cloud did not appreciate whiny children at all. “Patience,” he huffed. “Maybe I want to just casually stroll along. Maybe I’m admiring the scenery.”

“Lying is bad and you’re a bad liar,” Curiosity announced with a sniff of disdain so reminiscent of a stuffy and self-important Orlesian. “ There’s nothing to see here but boring grass and boring rocks. Deny your curiosity all you want, but I know it’s there.” It whirled around in his hair, making the blond spikes stand up even more with static. “We won’t even make it to the Dalish camp at this rate! Hey!” The spirit gasped when its ride came to a complete stop.

“Changed my mind,” Cloud announced blithely. “Let’s mosey.” He veered off to the east.

“Awww! But Cloud, they’re not that way!”

“And I told you that I’m not interested.”

“Boo! Boo! Boo!”

Cloud sighed. Then a sly smirk contorted his lips. “Let’s go explore the Crow Fens,” he offered to the sulking spirit that now attached itself to his wolf earring. It was swinging from the tiny ring clenched in the wolf’s jaws. “I bet there’s cool stuff to see there.”

Curiosity snorted, though Cloud had no idea how since it didn’t have a nose. “What kind of cool stuff?” It reluctantly asked, interest grudgingly peaked. “It’s blocked off anyway.”

“So? I am capable of climbing and jumping over things. Enhanced and Goddess-touched, that ringing any bells? Remember when we heard that there was a bounty for a high dragon in the Crow Fens?”

“When we visited Montsimmard, right?” The spirit started to perk up. “Do you think we’ll find a lair?! And dragonlings? And drakes, we mustn’t forget them! Oh, that would be amazing! And there’s supposed to ruins too, right? Yes! Let’s go!”

Distraction complete.

*** *** ***

_Like ships passing in the night...._

*** *** ***

Keeper Hawen did not have any leads in regards to Uthsa’aravas. Though he certainly had a list of tasks the clan needed done to prove that Lavellan still valued the People. Lavellan scrubbed a hand over her face and sighed. Right, then. But before she could clear out Var Bellanaris, she and the two mages with her needed to get back to camp for a least one of the warriors to join them. The she-elf knew that she had once again missed the chance to find Uthsa’aravas, to look him in the eye and thank him for her life and her freedom. She stared at her marked hand with blank eyes. Her shoulders slumped with despair.

“Eyes so bright, bluer than anything I’ve ever known. Deadly blades. I want to see. I need to see. Gentle hands encased in bloody gloves. A shield against shadows.” Cole appeared next to her with nary of whisper of his feet. “We’re here. At the camp, I mean. Hello.”

“Ah!” Lavellan whisper-shouted. She shot a nervous look at Dorian and Solas further down the creek. The two were occupied with bickering over a pile of frost rags from a despair demon that had come from the now closed rift. Honestly, those two. Thank the Creators she didn’t have Vivienne here as well. “Cole, don’t sneak up on me.” It was a little insulting to know that the spirit-boy was better at stealth than her. That’s what she gets, she supposed, for choosing to specialize as a tempest instead of as an assassin. “Everyone’s caught up, then?” She asked in a louder voice to grab the attention of the two other males.

“Cole, hello,” Solas greeted, coming closer to the two rogues. Dorian just wriggled his fingers at the blond boy in greeting. “I hope the journey was not too much trouble?”

“NugNug ate all the waybread,” Cole replied, staring off into space. “I sweetened them with honey. And then I gave him Vivienne’s caramel chocolates. She blamed Sera though since she ate some too. Yum. Sweet sticky goodness, stuck in my teeth.”

“You really shouldn’t encourage your nuggalope’s craving for sweets,” Lavellan scolded good-naturedly. “His teeth will rot away.” She fought to keep a smile off of her face. Of course Cole would manage to cheer her up.

“I’m glad I could help. NugNug doesn’t mind. He likes honey. It’s good for him.” Cole rocked back on his heels. “And he loves chocolate. Ears perk up. Treats in pockets. I like nugs. They are soft and warm. They are my friends. See you at camp.” He disappeared.

“One of these days, he is going to give one of us a heart-attack,” Dorian muttered as he went to fetch his mount. “Off to camp, then?”

*** *** ***

He looked upon the fragmented pieces of a time now gone scattered throughout this world and he mourned. It was his mistakes, his folly, and his pride that led to this. Dust and ghosts and ruins. He had failed the People. The mortals who claimed to be last of the true Elvhen were naught but shadows with symbols writ upon their faces whose true meaning were now lost. They were remnants. They scrabbled with desperate fingers at things they do not understand. They proclaimed pride in the lies of a past twisted by the passing of time.

Solas turned his head away from the sight of the Dalish requisitions agent that greeted the Inquisitor at the forward camp. The mage purposely stood apart. He was so buried in the miasma of his guilt that he has not realized one simple truth after all this time awake:

This veiled world was his living legacy and it would not surrender easily.

*** *** ***

Another storm passed across the plains. It was another miserable afternoon. Lavellan and her current team had cleared the undead from the Western Ramparts and set fire to the body pits that led to the swarms of undead in the ramparts before the rain hit. The soldiers loyal to Gaspard trickled back in from where they too had been attempting to fight the risen dead and the demons shambling around the fortifications.

“Why is it always the fricking dead?” Sera complained as they set up a makeshift camp further down the Path of Flame from the ramparts. The rain had finally let up with the setting of the sun. “Always, yeah, you always bring me to fight corpses! So gross, ugh. Eat arrows, arse-faces!” She shook her fist in the direction of the now gone body pits within the Western Ramparts.

“Think of it this way, darling,” Vivienne said coolly, “at least this isn’t the Fallow Mire.” She looked disdainfully amused at the archer’s exaggerated expression of horror. “Quite.”

“Well, we’ll have more of these pits to deal with, I’m sure.” Lavellan finished digging the fire pit and had a campfire going with a strike of flint that sent sparks into the kindling. “It seems we are fixing everyone’s problems, like usual.” She tried not to sound sour at the thought.

“Such is our lot as an organization that others look to when chaos erupts, dear.” Vivienne shrugged, beautiful as always in the firelight. Her sharp gray eyes examined the Inquisitor. “Rest up, darlings. First watch is mine.”

“Aww, damn, I wanted first watch,” Sera whined. She dodged a swat from Blackwall’s sword sheathe. “Oi, watch it, Beardy!”

“Quiet, you,” the swordsman said playfully. “I’ll take second watch then, if that is alright?”

“I’ll take third,” Lavellan replied. “Looks like you get to sleep in this round, Sera.”

“Yay!”

*** *** ***

Elsewhere on the Exalted Plains, Cloud slew the last of a group of demons that were hounding a group of soldiers. The warrior holstered his massive blade, its inner Fusion blades tucked into the main body. He nodded at their thanks but did not speak. Instead he just scooped up his simple pack, slung it over his shoulder, and walked away. He disappeared into the shadows of the twilight. Cloud just meandered down to the blocked entrance to Ghilan’nain’s Grove. He looked up with his glowing eyes, picking out the handholds in the packed rubble.

Curiosity, shaped like a ghostly cat, peeked out from his pack. “Still blocked,” it said, wriggling out and perching itself into his spiky hair. “Gonna climb?”

“Yeah.” Cloud looked over his shoulder up the incline of the path that led to the caved-in entrance. “In the morning. It’ll be safe here, we’re pretty much out of sight.”

“Okay. I’ll see you in the Fade” The spirit swirled up into the air and bounced around before popping across Veil which was thin near the Grove. Cloud laid down his blanket and little pillow. The place was dry enough to be not uncomfortable for sleeping. Satina, the larger of the twin moons, rose high in the sky and Cloud nodded off.

In the Fade, Curiosity and Cloud explored the memories tied to Ghilan’nain’s Grove.

*** *** ***

“That dragon was not nice at all,” Curiosity observed as they left the stinking marsh that was the Crow Fens. “It tried to eat me!” Little sparkly tendrils from its form poked at Cloud’s cheek from above. “Are you listening?”

“Yes.” Cloud grunted at a particularly hard poke from his companion. “I told you not to go up her nose, did I not?” He batted at the spirit when it flailed its little tentacles, messing up his spiky hair more than usual. Of course his blond locks were a hot mess anyway from his struggle to free the spirit from draconic jaws. He hadn’t killed the animal. After all, they were the intruders, not the dragon. Besides, she really had been a pretty creature, just super dangerous like a Nibel dragon hopped up on steroids and Mako with lightning breath. There wasn’t a nest nor drakes so she probably was still searching for a place to start breeding. Not his problem. At this point, he preferred dragons over people after this latest fiasco with this stupid Orlesian civil war and these nasty red Templars. People were highly ridiculous to him.

“Cloud~! Let’s go find that person now! The one that wants to meet you!” Curiosity oozed down onto his pauldron and morphed into a cat-shaped blob. It headbutted him and rubbed its head against his cheek. “Please, please, please!”

“It’s been several weeks,” Cloud said, desperately trying to avoid this. “We saved the dragon for last while we poked around the Fens. Pretty cool ruins, right?”

“You’re not going to distract me this time!” It proclaimed as it jumped off of his shoulder, now floating and shapeless. It started to circle him, chanting. “Let’s mosey! Let’s mosey!”

“Can you even sense them anymore?”

Curiosity paused. Then it drooped down to the ground and became a puddle of pink goo. Cloud backpedaled to avoid stepping into the spirit. “Waaah!!!” It started crying.

“No!” Cloud fell to his knees. Panic twisted his face. “Don’t cry! What’s wrong?” Thank the Goddess no one was tromping along this stretch of road. Other people usually couldn’t see Curiosity so they would have seen Cloud kneeling on the ground and talking to thin air.

“I. Lost. THEM!” Curiosity wailed.

“It’s okay! We’ll find something else!”

“We will?” Its voice trembled as its cries slowly petered off.

Cloud rubbed his face. “Umm, how about… That Inquisition? Remember? We see their scouts and troops everywhere now. I bet they have all kinds of things to see.” Oh, this was a bad idea but his own need to know was now awakened.

“But… But I thought you didn’t want to join them.” Curiosity slowly floated back up and nestled itself back into his soft hair. “You called them power hungry zealots and that their leader was a puppet. That you felt…sorry for her.”

“Ah well, things change.” Cloud lurched back up to his feet. “They’ve have been doing some good, right? Better than the Chantry at any rate. And we’ll see interesting things along the way. Skyhold is a long way off from here, you know. And we’re not joining. We’re going to see.”

“Let’s mosey?” It asked in a hesitant voice and flicked at his spiky blond hair.

“Yeah. Let’s mosey.”

*** *** ***

Up in the battlements of Skyhold, a spirit boy looked to the west, usually unfocused blue eyes now sharp. A smile slowly spread across his pale face. He hopped down from the roof of Commander Cullen’s office and popped away to Solas’ rotunda.

“He’s coming here,” Cole announced from his new spot next to Solas on the scaffolding.

Solas, unruffled, dipped his brush into the colored, wet plaster mix designated for his current fresco. “Who is coming, da’len?” He did not glance away from his work.

“Him.” Cole was perched on top of one of the scaffold’s uppermost guardrail to the elf’s left. He rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, his hands gripping lightly next to the outer edges of his boots. “The golden wolf and his friend. They’ve finally decided to come. They want to know, to see. Curiouser and curiouser. Is she a puppet? He hopes not, being a puppet is bad. Do they hunger for power? He wants to know; he needs to know. He’s coming. But don’t worry. He won’t hurt anyone. He doesn’t want to, he just wants to help. Kind, gentle hands in black gloves. Golden hair and wolves in silver. Curiosity leads the way. Oh, a song as they walk. He remembers it after all this time still. He’s singing it to his friend. It is sad.” Before Solas could ask for clarification, Cole disappeared with nary a sound to even sensitive elvhen ears.

“Well…” Solas huffed when he realized that he had stopped moving his brush. Plaster paint rolled down the body of the brush and stained his fingertips red. “So, you are coming… Why now? What has compelled you so? Who are you, Uthsa’aravas?”

*** *** ***

__**“Your words were like a dream  
But dreams could never fool me  
Not that easily…”**

_-1000 Words, Koda Kumi, International Version, verse 1 (Final Fantasy X-2)_

*** *** ***

**END CHAPTER**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See disclaimer in Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> See disclaimer at the beginning


End file.
